Before the Dark TournamentTeam Masho
by Rea Neko
Summary: what were the events that led up to Team Masho losing the Dark Tournament, even though they had a noble cause and a strong belief? Read here to find out.


"'Ey! Did you guys hear about the tournament?" the red haired demon asked in a flourish. Everyone in the room just basically ignored what Jin had to say. It didn't pertain to them anyway. Jin's ears reflected his disappointment by sinking a bit. "Awww cmon! Why can't we fight this year?"

The dark haired demon in the corner sighed as he ran a hand through his greasy black hair. "_Because _Jin," he started, sounding exasperated, "the purpose of the shinobi is to work in_ secret_. If people see us, we'll be exposed and centuries of training for camouflage and hit and run tactics will all be for nothing. If our masters were still alive, I'm sure they would stick you in a hole for a year just because you _thought_ of such a ridiculous idea."

Touya stood in the corner quietly, watching his friend and their sect leader go back and forth. Gama had joined in on Jin's side, while Bakken, not having enough of a brain to go against Risho, stuck close to him and his ideas.

_Oh boy, _thought Touya,_ another argument where I'll be the one to decide the outcome…_

No sooner had he thought that when everyone turned to him, looking for his opinion.

"Tell us Touya," said Risho with a smirk and a glint in his eye, "what do _you _think we should do?"

Touya very slightly cringed at the look on Risho's face. He knew that if he agreed with Jin that he would get the shit beat out of him later for it. However, he couldn't just agree with Risho, because he felt like it was time for a change. He wanted to feel what it was like to be outside for more than just an hour or two. How was it fair that every other creature, no matter how vile, got to experience the open air more than he? At times, he felt as though prisoners of Reikai got to enjoy the outdoors more than him. He decided he would approach this carefully, as was his nature as a shinobi.

"Well…what's the purpose of fighting this tournament..? What is the point?"

Jin's grin widened. He knew that Touya really wanted to agree with him wholeheartedly. His ears perked up a bit at this question. "Glad ya asked! Obviously the purpose is to win! You enter as a team of 5, and if ya win, every member on the team is granted anything they want! I heard even, that abou' 50 years er somethin back that they turned a human into an S-class demon! If they can do _that _they can probably do just abou' anythin!"

Touya's eyes widened. _Any_thing? What would he want more than anything in the world….?

"Our own place to stay!" said Touya, quite out of turn from his normally self reserved state. Everyone looked at him funny.

"What do you mean by 'our own place'?" asked Gama

"If we win, we can ask for a place to live, like a forest or something, where no one could find us! You know…so we wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed. We could actually go outside if we wanted to."

He looked around the dank cave that they lived in, water dripping from the ceiling, stalactites forming on the ground. Anywhere that wasn't as bleak and dreary was okay with Jin.

Touya looked a bit embarassed at having gotten slightly excited. "Well…maybe a small island…" he said rather sheepishly.

"That sounds like a great idea to me!" said Jin, now floating indian style above the cave floor.

"I'm the sect leader and we're not going to this tournament. It's too much of a risk. If we lose, we expose ourselves for nothing. Then we can be targeted and killed. You're all barely above apprentices, so who's to carry on your skills if you die? And I'm not telling you this because I care. I just don't want to have to put up with out masters in Reikai. They'd beat us so badly we'd die again," said Risho.

"Hey! What do you mean 'you're all barely above apprentices'! You finished your apprenticeship _after_ the rest of us!" cried Jin.

At this comment, Touya and Gama snickered slightly. Bakken stood there like an oaf. Risho glared at Jin. "At least I didn't pass because my master thought I was cute, Jin," he said icily.

Jin landed on the ground standing up. "So…you want to take this outside then, eh Risho?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the Master of Earth.

Touya didn't like where this was going. Risho was just smirking arrogantly. "It seems I've hit a nerve. What's the matter? You know you're only the Wind Master because you slept with the previous one right? I'm sure she didn't pass you becau-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because Jin was sitting on his chest, beating his brains out with his Tornado Fists. The cave became chaotic. Touya was trying to pull Jin off of Risho, Risho was trying to fight back, Gama was trying to get in between Jin and Risho, and Bakken was trying to get at Jin for hitting Risho. Jin was blind with rage and was shouting at the top of his lungs. "You dirty bastard! I never slept with 'er! Slimeball, I'm sure you weren't going to pass! You probably just bribed your master! Piece a' shit! I'll knock ya back into the Earth and we'll see how well ya master it with firsthand experience!"

Jin's white shinobi outfit was now bloodstained. Risho's mouth and nose were covered in blood and he looked a bit dazed. Bakken was helping him up, glaring at Jin the entire time. Touya still didn't let go of Jin, because he was still putting up a bit of a struggle to get at Risho. Gama stayed between the two just in case.

"Jin-! Take it easy--!" cried out Touya, in between Jin's futile attempts to escape his hold.

He finally calmed down a bit physically. He spit down at Risho's feet and said, "Yeah now that you've experienced em firsthand, ya won't be arguin' that I never mastered Tornado Fists…"

Touya let go of him, and he stormed out to a different part of the cave. Gama sighed. "Maybe we _should_ think about this tournament…we'd get some fresh air and everyone wouldn't feel so cramped…" muttered Touya.

Risho was now sitting on a rock, working on cleaning his face of the blood. Bakken had brought him a bucket of water to use to clean himself with. He still had a glassy eyed look, but Touya didn't care. He was secretly glad that Jin finally lost it with Risho. He hated Risho with every fiber of his being. The Earth Master was always trying to find things wrong with the way Touya did things, just for an excuse to beat him up. Touya, though hating himself for it, merely stood still and took the beating because of his firm belief in the Shinobi code's number one rule: Always respect your leader. He didn't want to be trapped in the cramped, damp, drafty cave with him anymore. No, he wanted to be able to take a leisurely stroll, or perhaps at the very least, have a place to run should Risho decide he needed a punching bag. They had to enter this tournament and win it. They had to. For the sake of his sanity, Touya needed to see the outside world. But this time, he needed to be standing in the sunlight as he viewed it, not merely watching from the shadows as a spectator. He needed to be a part of it, to feel warmth, and not worry about the consequences of such actions.

He could go outside anytime he wanted. He just knew that should he be careless, a stray demon might discover he's a shinobi and come after him. He needed a place to be alone, to be himself, and not worry about whether he would live a minute longer. Yes, he would definitely convince Risho and Bakken somehow. Now, to consult the mastermind behind the tournament idea : Jin.

Touya wandered around the cave in which they lived. Though the different sections themselves were small and cramped, in truth, there were so many of them that it made the cave seem enormous. However, Touya knew exactly where to find his horned friend. There was one section that was no bigger than 10x10 feet, with a few large rocks, but there was a hole in the ceiling, which was about 20 feet off the ground. If it was a nice sunny day, sunlight would pour in through the tiny hole, but it was enough to brighten Jin's mood. He would just sit under the hole and soak up some of the sunlight. Touya has seen him many times in here, and he doubted whether Risho, Bakken, and Gama knew about it. It was particularly difficult to get to, since there was a very narrow passageway you had to pass through and the many different paths you could take once you got through created almost a maze. Jin entrusted Touya with the secret location of his special place. He would never betray Jin's trust in him by telling any of the others the location.

Touya squeezed between a few tightly packed rocks and he followed the maze into the chamber, where Jin was now sitting, looking up at the small hole in which a few moonbeams had seeped through. He looked like he was brooding heavily, sitting on a rock, leaning back against the wall, one leg dangling over the rock and the other pulled tightly up to his chest, his chin resting upon his knee. Apparently he had spaced out because he didn't notice Touya as he slowly crept into the room.

"Jin?" Touya whispered, as not to scare the Wind Master. Though he said it quietly, Jin still snapped his head up in surprise and put a hand to his chest.

"Geez Touya ya scared the hell outta me…" he said, his eyes as wide as saucers. Touya gave a slight laugh, which was rare of him. Usually there was nothing to smile about, let alone laugh at. Jin's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit at the sight of his friend laughing.

"Look Jin, I was thinking about this tournament business. It sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately, it has many risks, and many variables which could cost us our victory. I'm also afraid to admit that Risho is right in saying that if we lose, we would have exposed ourselves for no reason," said Touya, trying to reason with the Wind Master.

"But I _know_ we can win! I believe we can! We ain't a buncha low life low class demons! We're top notch Shinobi! For Reikai's sake, you're the master of Ice an' I'm the master of Wind! We have the Earth Master, the Master of Disguise, an', well-I don' know what the hell Bakken is master of, but it's gotta be somethin' sweaty an' smelly. But he has brute strength! We all have amazin' abilities an' I think we'll have no problem musclin' our way to the top! Then, not only will we gain our own place to live, we'll gain respect so no one'd dare mess with us! Touya, c'mon. The gains outweigh the losses…besides, we have a 1 in 16 chance of winning! All we need to enter, is a human sponsor to buy our way in. Then, from there, we have to win 4 times to win the whole tournament! An' then, once we wish for our own place to live, we can use the other four requests on whatever we want! Whaddaya say? There ain' no fun in anythin' unless there's a risk, righ'?"

Jin had a very good point. The tournament did have unlimited gains, but if they did lose, hundreds of demons would be after them. But, then again, not many high level demons would be stupid enough to come after them…probably only the low-class idiots who don't know any better. They wouldn't be a problem. But on the other hand….

Touya was starting to get a bit frustrated now. Both sides had legitimate points.

"Touya, you're never gunna see the outside world in the daytime unless you enter this tournament. If you don', you'll always be stuck in this cave, maybe with an assassination once every 3 years or so. Please, let's just give it a shot. Ok?" Jin said almost pleadingly.

He looked on as his friend contemplated Jin's proposition, the Ice Master's features scrunched up a bit, as he was clearly deep in thought. The moonlight that leaked from the tiny hole 20 feet above them played on Touya's face, making the light creases in his forehead appear much deeper. Finally, after about 5 minutes, Touya's face relaxed; he had come to a conclusion.

"Alright Jin, let's do this. We'll give it all we got. The only thing is….how do we convince Baka and Riko to join us in the tournament?" questioned Touya.

Jin snickered slightly at Touya's attempt at a joke. "Don't worry. I already have an idea….."

RikoSelf Interest. You know how conceited Risho is.

So yeah. Lemme know what you think about this fic.

Rea


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